Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/16

 DEBAE. Btte 18 IH6f in the department oSDr&me, In the Ko- titia of the provinces of Gallmi it is called Ciyitas Deenainm. If an inacription which is cited, " CoL Dea Avg. Voc," is genuine, the place was made a oolonia. Stephanas («. v. Ala) mentions a city, Dia, in Italy, dose to the Alps, which may, pos- sibly, be Dea; but if so, *' Italy " isA mistake, and we shoold zead ** Gallia " instead. [G. L.] DEBAE or DEBEDAE (A^eou), an Arab tribe on the coast of the Bed Sea, a little to the north of Mekha, Diodoras Sicnlos (iiL 44) describes their coontry as sitoated at the foot of the Chabinns Mons (opof XalSivw), and permeated by a river so rich in gold dost that the deposit at its mouth glittered with the predoos metal; bat the inhabit- ants were utterly ignorant of the art of working it He descrUMs them as "occupied wholly with the rearing of camels, which animal they used for all purposes, pacific and belligerait; living on their milk and flesh, and using them for the transport of themselves and their merchandise." He mentions a remarkable fact, if true, that " their hospitality was restricted to the Boeotians and Peloponnesians," and assigns a still more remarkable reason, viz., ** that, according to ancestral traditions, Hercules had been on terms of intimacy with this natian.** Such is the report of Diodoras, copied almost literally from Aga- tharcides (Hudson, voL L p. 59), whose accoont is abridged by Strabo (xvL p. 777). Mr. Forster takes this last statement (which he misunderstands of a '* descent from one oommon stock '^) to intimate, ant historical fact, of the existence of an open trade between the Greeks and Arabs from very remote times, and of all the iacilities implied by commercial interoommonity " (vol. i. p. 38). He finds this tribe in " the Zebejde of Burckhardt; the rectified ana- gram changing ZtAegde into Zedeybe, and the idio- matic interchange of the d and z restoring the classical name, as written by Agatharddes, D^SedoutP " The rektive geogmphical positions place the iden- tity beyond question, and the sameness of manners, habits, and occupations will complete the conclusive proof that the Dedebae and the Zdt^fde are one and the same people " (p. 73). He imagines them to be the same as the Giuaedocolpitae of Ptolemy, and the auriferous river to be the Baetius of that geogn^ther. [Baktius.] [G. W.] DECATOLIS (Acicaw^is), a district of Pales- tine, so named from the ten dties oontuned within its limits. They are variously given by difierent writers, as in Pliny's time — '* in quo nan omnes eadem observant" According to him, most authorities gave Damascus, Philadelphia, Rhaphana, Scytho^is, Gadara, Hippos, Dios, Pella, Gahua (? Geraaa), Ganatha (v. 18). In thb view the district compre- hended the southern part of Syria, part of Peraea, as well as the neighbourhood of BUan, on the west of the Jordan. But in St MatUiew (iv. 25) *' De- capolis" is distangnbhed from ** beyond Jordan;" which would show that the districts were not con- terminous. Josepbus calls Scythopolis ** the great- est city of DecapoUs" {B.J. iiL 8. § 7), but does not name the others. Eusebius describes it as the part of Persea ^ that lies about Hippos, Pella, and Gadara." (OnomiMH, t, «.) [G. W.] DECELEIA. [AincA, p. 830. a.] DECEM PAGI, in Gallia, is pboed by tiie Ante nine Itin. and the Table on the road from Divodurum (Mett) to Aigentoimtum (SKrossftut^). Between Divodurum and Decern Pa^ was Ad Duodgcimnm, DEDMASA. 757 a place .S Gallic leagues from Divodurum according to the Table; and from Ad Duodedmum to Decern Pagi was also 12 Gallic leagues, according to the Table. A place called Dintte, on the SeUk^ in the department of Meurtkt, seems to represent Decem Pagi. Julian marched from Augustodunum through Decern Pagi to attack the Alamanni (Amm, Mar. zvi 2). The place was within the territory of the MediomatricL [G. L.] DEGETIA iJMcUe), an island in the Ligeris (Zotre), within the territory of the Aedoi. In the seventh year of the Gallic War (B.a 52) Caesar summoned the senate of the Aedui to Decetia. (B. G, viL 33). The name occurs in the Itins. In the Antonine Itin. it is placed on the road finom Augus- todunum {Avim) to Paris, and 16, or, according ta another reading, 15, Gallic leagues from Nevirnum {Neoen on the Ldre). In one pUce in the Anto- nine Itin. the name is written Decddae; and in the Table it is Degena, a corrapted form. The modem site is D^cue, in the department of Niivre, [G. L.] DECIA'NA. [Indioetbs.] DECIA'TES, DECIA'TAE (Awi^m). Pto- lemy (it 10) hu the form Awtdriot, The Ded- ates were in Gallia Narboneosis, west of the Var, and their neighbours on the west were the Ozybii (Plin. iiL 5). Ptolemy makes Antipdis {Aniies) the chief town of the Deciates; but if tUs was so in Ptolemy's time, it was not so at an earlier date, for Antipolis was a Greek settlement Antipolis, however, may have been founded in the countiy of the Deciates, who occuped the tract along the coast between the town and the Yar, and vrere conse- quentiy the nearest people of Transalpine Gaul to Italy. Pdybius (xzxiiL 7; Strab. p. 202), who calls the Deciates a Liguiian people, tdls how the Ligurians bedeged Antipolis and Nicaea, and the Maasaliots sent for hdp to Rome. The Romans sent some oonunisdoners, who landed at Aegitna in the territory of the Ozybii; but the Oxybii, who had heard that tiiey came to give them orders to desist from the siege, wounded one of the commisdmers. Upon this the Romans sent the consul Q. Opimiua with an army, who defeated the Oxybii and Detciates, and gave part of their country to the Massaliota (B.C. 154). Aooording to Floras (IL 3), the Ded- ates were again inarms with the Salyes (b.c. 125), but were defeated by the consul M. Fnlvins Flaocus. The Deciates, as it appears, were also indnded by Livy amimg the Transalpine Ligures, as we may infer from tiie epitome of the 47th book. Stephanus («.«. AcK/i|roy) mentions a town of Italy called Dedetum, on the authority of the geographer Arte- midorus; and he gives the ethnic name Dedetae, Whatever error there may be in this extract, it is plain that Stephanus means the Deciates. Mda (ii. 5) mentions an ** oppidum Dedatum;" and it is not Antipolis, for he speaks of Antipolis as a sepA- rate place. The situation of this town, if there waa such a place, is nnknown. [G. L.] DEOIUM. [VA8CONE8.] DE'CUMA, a town of Hispania Baetica, near the river Baetis, and apparentiy on its left bank,,near its junction witii the SntODUS. (Plin.iii. 1. s.*3.) It is supposed to be the same place as the Dbtumo, of whi<i we have some coins (Mionnet, StqtpL voL i. p. 114; Sestini, p. 88); and Harduin takes it for the AnroMa of Ptolemy (iL 4. § 1 1). [P. S.] DECUMA'TES AGRL [Agri Dbcumatks.] DE'DMASA (AtfS/Mura: Eth, AfS^uurc^s). [Mbdmasa.} 3c3
 * under the thin veil of classical fiction, the import-